Hey Everyone,
Hope you're having a great week. Here are a few things I've been reading, writing and pondering lately. Enjoy!
1. How to Make People Care About Your Content: Find the Right Angle
This is a great post by my colleague Jan-Erik Asplund. I recommend following him on Twitter for more smart stuff like this.
The insights that Chris [Savage] conveys in the posts don’t run aggressively counter to your average lines of thinking on leadership or work. But each title above takes that core insight and stretches it around a lazy, familiar concept that we all think we know. By framing the insight against those familiar terms, it becomes more important—and makes us want to click.
2. Useful Hacks
This is a classic Morgan Housel post.
- Marketing hack: Make a good product that people need.
- PR hack: Do something newsworthy.
- Writing hack: Write every day for years.
3. Spotify vs Apple Music vs Pandora: Who Is Growing Faster and Why?
Reforge’s Brian Balfour has been posting some really interesting videos on LinkedIn recently. This one explores the difference between using freemium and free trial models for the world’s top music services.
4. HERstory: Susan Su, Head of Marketing
Speaking of Reforge, here’s Head of Marketing Susan Su on her career path.
What's your advice for up-and-coming marketers?
Our outer reality is a direct effect of our inner thoughts. Many of us now know that confidence begets winning, not the other way around, but we forget that we can control and generate that confidence with our own thoughts and the deeds that spring from them. If you want to grow in your career, start by embracing the capable, charismatic winner inside—and then give her a doorway so that she can step out and shine.
5. Random Links
- What Your Career Counselor Didn’t Tell You About Being a Writer (with some advice from yours truly)
- Very interesting: As Rental Cars Fade Away, Avis Will Try Anything to Survive
- Starbucks may have oversaturated the US market. They’ve opened 5.5 stores per day for the last five years.
- I enjoyed this: 4 Harsh Truths That Will Make You A Better Person
- Watching Bill Burr on the Conan O’Brien Show is an easy way to kill many hours on the internet.
Have a great weekend!
Jimmy
PS - I’m looking to partner with a few great businesses to sponsor this newsletter. It reaches a bunch of smart folks from places like Google, Apple, Spotify, New York Times, Marriott and Harvard. Shoot me an email if you're interested in working together.
PPS - I created an email course called 5 Days to Better Content Marketing. More than 300 people have already taken it. You should check it out too.